The fifteen PGCE Modern Languages trainee teachers at the University of Worcester have made a great start to the teacher training course. On 29th September 2017, they celebrated the European Day of Languages at the Lacon Childe School in Cleobury Mortimer by teaching French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish to Year 9 pupils. Lessons focused on aspects of culture. Pupils found out about the Oktoberfest in Munich, the festival of lights in Lyon, the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Italian landmarks, Brazilian and Spanish food and how All Saints Day is celebrated in Mexico.
Trainee teachers team-taught the same lesson three times so that all the year 9 groups could experience learning about six different aspects of culture. It was for some trainee teachers their first teaching experience in England, either because they are native speakers or because they taught in France, Germany or Spain on their year abroad. The initiative gave them the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the English education system before the start of the school placement. It gave them an insight into the importance of working collaboratively with each other, building effective working relationships with pupils and contextualising their teaching to engage pupils.
Here is what some trainee teachers said:
Tatiana:
‘I really enjoyed my day at Lacon Childe. I felt that the lessons we taught went really well overall and I really enjoyed creating a rapport with the pupils. l can see just how much I have learned in only three weeks.’
Tori:
‘This week I gained confidence through teaching at Lacon Childe and learnt a lot about the school system and teaching in general. It was a great introduction to teaching and I now feel more confident to start placement one. As a group I feel that we delivered the lesson to the best of our ability.’
Eleese:
‘I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the 4 groups of Year 9 today and I found that when I started teaching I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm and passion for languages which I hope I managed to convey to the students. It was one of the best days of the course for me so far and gave me yet another opportunity to realise how much I will love a career in teaching.’
Isabelle Schafer
Modern Languages PGCE Subject Tutor, Institute of Education